The Furniture Society

The Furniture Society, founded in 1996,[1] is a membership-based, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art. The Society, based in Asheville, North Carolina, has an international membership comprising furniture makers, designers, educators, museum and gallery professionals, scholars, journalists, collectors, students and the interested public.[2]

Background

Built on a tradition of volunteerism, the Society provides a range of programs including annual conferences, exhibitions, publications, scholarships and awards of excellence. All programming is guided by the Society’s core values: opportunity, education, inspiration, community and contribution. Membership in the Furniture Society is open to all who have an interest in furniture.

Annual Conferences

The Society convenes an annual conference, in locations across the United States and in Canada, usually in June. Each conference offers keynotes, artists’ presentations, practical demonstrations, theoretical discussions and business improvement seminars. Past venues have included:[3]

  • Purchase, New York (1997)
  • San Francisco, California (1998)
  • Smithville, Tennessee (1999)
  • Toronto, Ontario (2000)
  • Tempe, Arizona (2001)
  • Madison, Wisconsin (2002)
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2003)
  • Savannah, Georgia (2004)
  • San Diego, California (2005)
  • Indianapolis, Indiana (2006)
  • Victoria, British Columbia (2007)
  • SUNY Purchase (2008)
  • Boone, North Carolina (2009)
  • Cambridge, Massachusetts (2010)
  • Portland, Maine (2012)
  • Los Angeles, California (2013)
  • Port Townsend, Washington (2014)
  • Durham, North Carolina (2015)
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2016)
  • Kansas City, Missouri (joint conference with the American Association of Woodturners)(2017)
  • San Francisco, California (2018)
  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2019).

Exhibitions

The Furniture Society has sponsored several major exhibitions of studio furniture. These include:

  • Multiplicity: The art of the Furniture Prototype (2008)
  • Show Us Your Drawers (2006)
  • Curv-iture (2004)
  • The Maker's Hand (2004, co-sponsored with The Museum of *Fine Art, Boston)
  • Cabinets of Curiosities (2003, co-sponsored with The Wood *Turning Center)
  • WilsonArt Invitational (2003, co-sponsored with WilsonArt)
  • The Right Stuff (2002)
  • The Circle Unbroken (1999)
  • Contemporary North American Furniture (1997—invitational)

The Award of Distinction

The Award of Distinction is conferred annually by The Furniture Society upon one or more living individuals who are recognized as having had a profound impact on the field of studio furniture. The honorees exemplify lives devoted to study, work, and craft, as well as the education of others in the field.

The award is presented each year as a major event during the annual conference. Past recipients of the award include:[4]

YearName Notes Ref.
2001Arthur Espenet Carpenter
Wendell Castle
Tage Frid
James Krenov
Sam Maloof
2002John Makepeace
Jere Osgood
Alan Peters		 [5][6]
2003Jonathan Leo Fairbanks
William Keyser		 [7]
2004Garry Knox Bennett
2005Judy Kensley McKie [8]
2006Tommy Simpson [9]
2007Michael Fortune [10]
2008Wendy Maruyama
Walker Weed
2009Vladimir Kagan
2010John Cederquist
2012Rosanne Somerson [11]
2014Bebe Johnson
Warren Johnson		 awarded jointly as Pritam & Eames [12]
2015Thomas Hucker
2016Edward S. Cooke
2018Craig Nutt [13]
2019Tom Loeser [14]
2020Kristina Madsen [15]

History

The Awards were first presented in 2001, at the annual Furniture Society conference held that year in Tempe, Arizona. Five craftsmen were honored simultaneously in the first presentation, in order to make up for time lost in planning and funding the awards and to insure that these five iconic figures in furniture making and education were properly recognized in their lifetimes. One of the initial honorees, Tage Frid, was unable to attend the ceremony due to health issues and died several months later. Three of the other initial honorees—Art Carpenter, Sam Maloof and James Krenov are now deceased.

Although the Award of Distinction has most often been presented to furniture makers and educators, anyone who has made significant contributions to the field of studio furniture can be considered. In 2003, for example, one of the honorees was furniture historian and curator Jonathan Fairbanks

Publications

Five biennial journals on Studio Furniture have been published by the Furniture Society: Furniture Studio: The Heart of the Functional Arts, 1999[16] Furniture Studio: Tradition in Contemporary Furniture, 2001[17] Furniture Studio: Furniture Makers Exploring Digital Technologies, 2005[18] Furniture Studio: Focus on Materials, 2006[19] and Furniture Studio: The Meaning of Craft, 2007[20] These volumes offer essays on design, fabrication and history as well as a pictorial gallery of the finest work made from the 1990s on. The Society also publishes catalogs to accompany the major exhibitions of furniture that it has initiated or co-sponsored with leading institutions, and a quarterly print newsletter, Furniture Matters. Recent Furniture Society publications also include The Maker's Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940-1990 (168 pages, illustrated), 2003 from the Museum of Fine Arts Publications,[21] Mind & Hand: Contemporary Studio Furniture (160 pages, illustrated), 2012[22] and Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture (160 pages, illustrated), 2015,[23] both from Schiffer Publishing.

See also

References
  1. Koplos, Janet. (2010). Makers : a history of American studio craft. Metcalf, Bruce, 1949-, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-8078-9583-2. OCLC 658203695.
  2. "A Society Dedicated To Furniture". Fine Woodworking Magazine. 10 April 2006. Retrieved 10 April 2006.
  3. "Furniture Society has best-attended conference". Woodshop News. Retrieved 26 August 2004.
  4. "Award of Distinction". The Furniture Society. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  5. "Alan Peters Obituary". 30 October 2009.
  6. My Secret Life, John Makepeace, 71, 29 April 2011, archived from the original on 2022-06-18
  7. John L. Jacobus (1 December 2011). Inside the Fisher Body Craftsman's Guild: Contestants Recall the Great General Motors Talent Search. McFarland. ISBN 9780786487950.
  8. "Judy Kensley McKie".
  9. "Furniture Society presents Award of Distinction to Simpson". Furnituretoday.com. 6 November 2006. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  10. Steve Scott (March 2007). "Canadian studio furniture maker wins Award of Distinction from The Furniture Society for his body of work and contributions to the craft". Finewoodworking.com. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  11. The Furniture Society (19 April 2012). "Somerson to Receive Furniture Society Award of Distinction". Woodworkingnetwork.com (press release). Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  12. "Furniture Society honors Pritam & Eames founders". September 2017.
  13. Robert O'Connell (21 June 2018). "Five Highlights: 2018 Furniture Society Conference". Craftcouncil.org. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  14. "UW-Madison's Loeser to receive 2019 Award of Distinction from the Furniture Society". Wisc.edu. 22 March 2019. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
  15. "Kristina Madsen to receive Furniture Society Award of Distinction".
  16. The heart of the functional arts. Kelsey, John, 1946-, Mastelli, Rick, 1949-, Furniture Society. Free Union, VA: Furniture Society. 1999. ISBN 0967100402. OCLC 41238526.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  17. Tradition in contemporary furniture. Mastelli, Rick, 1949-, Kelsey, John, 1946-, Furniture Society. Free Union, Va.: Furniture Society. 2001. ISBN 0967100410. OCLC 47073337.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. Furniture makers exploring digital technologies : annual journal of the Furniture Society. Kelsey, John, 1946-, Furniture Society. Asheville, NC: Furniture Society. 2005. ISBN 0967100429. OCLC 58843091.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. "9780967100432: Focus on Materials (Furniture Studio) - AbeBooks: 0967100437". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  20. The meaning of craft. Kelsey, John, 1946-, Furniture Society. Asheville, NC. 2007. ISBN 9780967100449. OCLC 145396633.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  21. Cooke, Edward S. (2003). The maker's hand : American studio furniture, 1940-1990. Ward, Gerald W. R., L'Ecuyer, Kelly H., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: MFA Publications, a division of the Museum of Fine Arts. ISBN 0878466622. OCLC 53883909.
  22. Mind & hand : contemporary studio furniture. Aslund, Jean., Congdon-Martin, Douglas., Furniture Society., Furniture Society. Conference (2010 : Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer Pub. 2012. ISBN 9780764341151. OCLC 768166946.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  23. Rooted : creating a sense of place : contemporary studio furniture. Dotson, Steffanie,, Congdon-Martin, Douglas,, Furniture Society (Durham, N.C.). Atglen, PA. 2015. ISBN 9780764349485. OCLC 898162606.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
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